“A Seed is a Wish About to Come True. . .”™   Summer Rayne

Call 1-866-694-9955 to place a credit card order.  Any size order OK! Or Use PayPal Below

How to Recognize a Root Bound Plant

Stacy Glass

Have you ever noticed that a plant can be doing spectacular, growing great, looking terrific and then all of a sudden you find that it needs water more often and the plant wilts within a few days from watering?  Well, the plant might be pot bound.

Here’s how to tell, but watch out some plants like to have crowded roots.  Turn the pot over.  Are roots poking through the drainage hole?  Pull the plant gently out of the pot and see how compact and matted the root system is.  If it looks like the photo below, it is definitely in need of a larger pot.

The best time to check this and to repot is in the spring.  This is the time of year when plants are coming out of the rest period and can recover quickly before the next rest period begins.  Don't think you can get the biggest pot around so you don't ever have to transplant again. Repot to a pot that is only slightly larger than the existing one, usually 2 inches bigger.  Planting to a really big pot can often stop growth of the plant. 

Has the plant become so large in the pot because it has multiplied?  You might be able to split the plant up and have more little plants!  But don't put them in a bigger pot.  Plant in the same size pot or smaller. 

Once you have determined you need to repot the plant water it. Wait about a half hour then pull the plant out of the pot.  Run your fingers along the roots to loosen them up.  Place about an inch of soil on the bottom of the new pot and place the plant into its new home.  Pack in the soil around it, water by setting it in a tray of water allowing it to wick up from the bottom, mist the leaves and put it back to its normal happy place. 

Copyright © [ Driftwood Gardens - ] May 1998-2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher.    

Unless otherwise noted all photos are taken by Dale Johnson or Jon Valley and are Copyright © [Dale Johnson - Driftwood Gardens - Summers Seeds] All rights reserved. No picture may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the owner/publisher.